


Happy Birthday, Ash

by haircutnamedarthur



Series: Happy Birthday Ash [1]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ash's Birthday, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Camping, Canon Compliant, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 08:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20272864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haircutnamedarthur/pseuds/haircutnamedarthur
Summary: It's Ash's birthday again.  He hasn't had a good birthday since he was a young child, but so far this year hasn't been so bad just because it's been uneventful.  There are certainly worse things than that.  However, this birthday will turn out differently than anything Ash ever could have expected.





	Happy Birthday, Ash

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> Here is a one shot that I wrote for Ash's birthday. Unfortunately I'm posting it a bit late because some things happened that delayed my revision process somewhat, but here it is!! I've really grown to love writing little snapshots of what ~might~ happen outside of what we're shown in Banana Fish's story. This fic definitely falls into that category so I hope that you enjoy it!

Ash heaved a sigh, blowing his bangs out of his eyes for a moment before they settled back down across his forehead and around his face. The drive with Max, Ibe, Shorter, and Eiji was starting to feel long. And now they were squarely in the middle of nowhere, a position that was becoming increasingly common on their cross-country trek. This was even more in the middle of nowhere than usual, though, since the five of them were in a clearing in the middle of the woods. Rather than keep going on the off chance that they found a questionable no-tell-motel or some other equally unappealing place to spend the night, Max made the executive decision to pull down a dirt road and camp. If Ash had things his way, they’d have kept driving through the night. However, Ibe agreed with Max and Eiji and Shorter had been yawning enough that it was clear whose side they were on.

So now Ash was laying on the ground using a sweatshirt as a half-assed pillow beside a half-assed campfire having just finished eating a half-assed dinner consisting of heated up canned food. Somehow, the Chef Boyardee ravioli was still only lukewarm even though the can was blazing on the outside.

As far as birthdays went, it certainly wasn’t the worst one Ash had ever had.

He hadn’t had a good one since he was a kid and he was with Griffin. Griff came home from work with a Caravel ice cream cake shaped like Fudgie the Whale and a beautiful, slightly used but no less beautiful for it, copy of _The Magician’s Nephew. _It was printed on thick paper with watercolor illustrations on almost every single page. While he leafed through the book, Ash studied the pictures with so much reverence he may as well have been clutching a medieval illuminated manuscript. Ash remembered falling asleep in Griff’s lap, content and full of ice cream cake as Griffin read the familiar story out loud to him. 

That birthday, though, was a very, very long time ago.

The vast majority of his birthdays since were uncomfortably over the top affairs orchestrated by Dino. The fancy dinners came complete with lavish presents and all of the God-awful expectations that came along with them.

It made Ash wish that he didn’t even know when his birthday was, or that he could just forget about it for one year. He always hoped that one day he’d wake up and realize that his birthday had passed, and he hadn’t even spared it a thought. Inevitably, though, August twelfth would roll around and he’d wake up with a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

On more than one occasion, Shorter had pried to try and figure out when it was. He said Nadia wanted to bake him a cake and make him dinner and they’d have a nice time. Sometimes, Ash wanted to tell him, but it was easier not to. The more people who knew about it, the harder it would be for Ash to forget it. Eventually Shorter gave up asking in the face of Ash’s acidic replies to his queries. It was just as well. Even though a celebration with Shorter and Nadia might have been fun, it still would have been a birthday.

Musing on the topic, Ash let his eyes close. Shorter snored like a freight train in the background.

After some time had passed, Ash felt someone watching him. His body tensed in anticipation of a potential threat, but he maintained his nonchalance with practiced ease. He opened one eye and found Eiji looking down at him. 

“What’s up?” Ash asked, opening his other eye to meet Eiji’s gaze. No threat after all.

“Can you come for a walk with me? I do not want to go by myself,” Eiji said and offered up a sheepish smile. Even in the fading light, Ash could see Eiji’s cheeks growing pink.

“Sure. Why not?” Ash said. Eiji grinned at him and extended a hand to pull Ash to his feet. His grip was firm and sure. Given how young Eiji looked, Ash couldn’t help but be surprised over and over again at the things that reminded him of Eiji’s strength. Still, Ash supposed that it only made sense that Eiji could help him up so easily given that he’d been a champion athlete in the not-so-distant past.

“Don’t go too far since the sun’s going down,” Max hollered when he saw them walking away from the campsite. “I don’t need to be wandering around in the dark forest trying to find you two when you get lost.”

“Pipe down Old Man. It’ll be fine,” Ash said, rolling his eyes. 

“We will be careful,” Eiji said brightly. Even though he’d already turned away and started walking, Ash could hear Max’s sigh. Eiji trotted in his wake to catch up.

“Why the sudden urge to go for a walk?” Ash asked once they’d put some distance between themselves and the camp. Even Shorter’s deafening snoring was out of earshot. 

“To talk to you,” Eiji said and Ash glanced over at him to see that his blush had deepened. 

“About what?” Ash cocked his head.

For a moment, Eiji didn’t reply and seemed far more focused on staring down at his shoes than on talking to Ash. Ash almost joked about how Eiji was being awfully quiet for someone who’d dragged him out into the woods to talk, but he held himself back. Instead, Ash walked along beside Eiji in companionable silence. He wasn’t sure what Eiji had in mind, but there was no sense in rushing him. 

“Happy birthday, Ash,” Eiji said at last. His voice was small and a little hesitant, like he wasn’t sure how Ash would react. The thing was, though, _Ash_ wasn’t even sure how Ash would react. Without even realizing he’d done it, Ash froze.

“How did you know?” Ash said after a brief internal debate over whether or not he wanted to deny the statement. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t.

“I Googled you,” Eiji said with a nervous giggle. Ash raised an eyebrow. 

“You _Googled _me?” He asked. 

“I did. A while ago, though. Not long after we first met, I Googled you,” Eiji explained. “I am sorry if that is weird.”

“It’s not that weird,” Ash exhaled through his nose. “I probably would have Googled me, too, after that shit show. I’m just surprised that you remembered my birthday from that, I guess.”

“I am good at that kind of thing,” Eiji laughed. 

“No kidding. Why’d you take me out here, though?” Ash asked. He still wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the whole thing. Granted, Eiji’s halting ‘happy birthday, Ash’ was the first time in years that those words hadn’t made his heart clench with fear and dread. Instead, it was nice. Unexpected, but definitely nice. 

“Since you never said anything about your birthday, I thought you may not want to draw attention to it,” Eiji said. “So, I did not want to point it out to the others in case you kept it secret for a reason. I was worried about making you uncomfortable. Still, I felt sad not saying anything, so I wanted to tell you myself. Then I could not get you alone today until now.”

Ash swallowed. He’d never thought he’d ever meet someone as thoughtful and considerate as Griffin again, but then Eiji came flying into his life out of nowhere. Somehow Eiji once again knew just how to handle something without Ash even saying a word. The thought of Eiji revealing his birthday to _everyone _set his teeth on edge, but instead having it acknowledged in this private, quiet way was much nicer than he ever could have expected. Warmth spread through his chest.

“Here,” Eiji said with a soft smile and pressed something small and light into Ash’s hand. “I am sorry it is not much. I have been working in it in the back of the truck while Shorter and Ibe are sleeping.”

Opening his hand, Ash saw a red, woven bracelet fashioned out of embroidery floss resting in his palm. His name and some stars were picked out in yellow. It was like a friendship bracelet, but so neatly done that it looked like the kind you would buy premade in a giftshop instead of an arts and crafts project. 

“You made it?” Ash asked, turning it over in his fingers. “Even with the letters?”

“Yes,” Eiji laughed. “Letters and shapes are _hard._”

“How did you know how to do it?”

“Well, a few years ago, my little sister wanted to learn how to do these, but she could not figure out how. So, I decided to learn how so I could teach her. By the time I got the hang of it, she didn’t care any longer, so I thought I learned for no reason. Little devil. I guess it came in handy after all, though,” Eiji smiled and shook his head.

“Look at you, being a caring big brother,” Ash teased. “I thought your sister drove you crazy?”

“Oh, she does,” Eiji snickered. Then he sobered a bit. “I am sorry if it is kind of a silly present, though. I just wanted to do something for your birthday but driving like we are I did not have many choices.”

“It’s not silly, I love it,” Ash said quickly. “Really, I do.”

“I am glad, Ash. Happy birthday,” Eiji beamed at him. 

Ash bit his lip for a second. Eiji had _made _him something. For _him. _Just for him. It made him feel special in a way that he hadn’t since Griffin came home with that ice cream cake and that gorgeous book. To hide that his eyes were welling with tears, Ash did something that he normally wouldn’t have been able to summon up the nerve for.

He pulled Eiji into a tight hug. Without a second of hesitation, Eiji hugged him back. For the first time in a long time, ‘happy birthday, Ash’ felt right. 

“Thank you, Eiji.”

“Of course, Ash. I am glad that I could be with you on your birthday,” Eiji said and gave Ash a little squeeze as he stood on tiptoe to rest his chin on Ash’s shoulder. 

“Me too,” Ash whispered back and buried his nose into the crook of Eiji’s neck. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading everyone! <3
> 
> I really enjoyed working on this fic so I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please let me know what you think! Comments always make my whole entire day so I'd love to know your thoughts! You can find me on twitter @pennylanewrites !
> 
> If you enjoyed this, I have an ongoing Banana Fish horseback riding au that you can find here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17902895/chapters/42264863
> 
> Thanks so much for reading everyone! Until next time~


End file.
